How your free SSL certificate works

How a Let's Encrypt certificate is similar to a traditional certificate

Let's Encrypt certificates are just as valid as a traditional one-year certificate. They are universally-recognized by all modern browsers and allow your site to display the green padlock symbol in your URL bar that indicates the connection is encrypted. Whether you're running an e-commerce site or just want to assure your visitors that their connection is private, your Let's Encrypt certificate gets the job done.

How a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate differs from a traditional certificate

If you use our Weebly-powered site builder or have traditional hosting with Porkbun, you will notice no difference! Your certificate will be automatically generated and installed on your website. If your web hosting is with us or you're using the site builder, you never need to do anything! Free SSL forever, woohoo!

If your hosting isn't with us, you can still use our Let's Encrypt certificates. However, you should note they last 90 days and are renewed every 60 days. That means that ever 60 days, a new certificate is generated and you have a one-month grace period to download it and install it into your web server. To download your certificate, click the "ribbon" icon in Domain Management:

Please note that in order for Let's Encrypt certificates to be automatically generated, you also need to be using Porkbun's DNS service. If you've assigned 3rd-party nameservers to your domain, Let's Encrypt certificate generation will fail. You can still generate the certificate, however! It just requires an additional step: you'll need to update three TXT records at your 3rd-party DNS provider at the point of certificate generation. The records you need to create/update will be displayed in the certificate area at the moment of generation.